The tale of the gutsy ninjas
by Gweatherwax
Summary: Why choose the loser Sannin if you can get a stronger one? If killing your best friend gives you power, keeping him alive to kick his ass every day still gives you power AND relieves stress. The story of how Jiraya decided to rewrite his greatest success! Collab with fangirlandiknowit, Sasunarusasu, M rated to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Welcome to the first installment of The Tale of the Gutsy Ninjas!

And since I'm really lazy with author notes lemme give you what my counterpart **fangirlandiknowit** has written for it on AO3:

 _So this is a little something I'm doing together with Gweatherwax, it started out as a 'what if' yesterday and today she made sure we wrote the first chapter. She's definitely one of those 'doers' while I'm more of a 'planner' lol._

 _It's an alternate reality canon fic, and we're still hammering out the details, but personally we feel that this is a much better canon than kishimoney came up with. If he even came up with anything. We're writing different parts so if you've read our stories before I'm sure you can figure out who wrote what. Either way I know I should be writing other things but no worries it'll work out somehow I'm sure. And I'm very excited about this story!_

 _Not sure when the romance will kick in but we'll get there eventually!_

 _This first chapter is more of an intro, and the focus of the story will be what happens after the chuunin exam and onwards._

 _I hope you like it!_

So do I. PLEASE REVIEW, we'll be happy to answer any questions, discuss and whatever. Have fun!

* * *

Sasuke slammed his hand over his alarm clock, and sighed.

Another lonely day, in a lonely house.

He got off the bed and carefully hid Mr. Roary under his pillow before moving to the bathroom for a shower.

As usual, he stopped on his way to the Academy to get an onigiri and some tomato juice.

At least today he'd finally start his training as genin, another step towards killing Itachi and finally avenging his clan. It was enough that he was one entire year late in his graduation due to the trauma from the massacre, he couldn't waste any more time. Every day with Itachi alive was another stab in his heart.

He was carefully considering all the available Jounin team leaders, oblivious to his surroundings, when a stinky pair of sandals landed on his table. He raised his head to see the class deadlast, Naruto, squinting aggressively at him - gods, did the short loudmouth look even stupider than usual doing that - and promptly ignored his poor attempt at scrutinizing him.

That is, until the idiot screamed, and he raised his head again, to see him looming over, his lips twitching as they came closer, and closer, as if in slow motion.

Sasuke opened his mouth to utter a warning, physically feeling the air slowly reaching his vocal chords, his eyes bulging, his eyebrows moving up in surprise… and then the idiot's lips covered his in an open-mouthed kiss, freezing the world in the most awkward moment of Sasuke's life.

'Miso… miso ramen. Who the hell eats miso ramen for breakfast?' was his first shocked thought, with 'Wait what the hell? Why is he kissing me? _And why is he kissing me in front of everyone?_ ' following on its heels.

The last one was what broke the shock, and made him push the idiot off of him. He quickly spit out, genuinely grossed out - he honestly didn't like spicy foods in the morning - and also mortified.

"You! You! Gaaaah!" he fumed, seeing the blond runt making gagging noises. A pink-haired girl he had never paid attention to - paying attention to people led to no good, really… Itachi had told him to seek him after he got the same eyes as he did, and for that he'd have to kill his best friend, but he could damn well see that Itachi had told him that to force him into making friends and forgetting about his revenge, Sasuke was a kid but he wasn't stupid - yelled at the blond and cracked her knuckles in anger. He noticed the panicked look the kid gave her, but his punishment - and who the hell did this girl think she was to punish him? Sasuke wasn't a damsel in distress, he could damn well deal with the idiot himself - was delayed by Iruka, who entered the room to call out the teams.

"Blah blah blah Team One… blah blah blah Team Two…" Iruka chanted, and Sasuke noticed with aprehension that all the decent students were being paired off with each other. Well… as long as he didn't get the same team as the deadlast…

"Team Seven is Haruno Sakura… Uzumaki Naruto," Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh, "... and Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke facepalmed.

After his team had met their sensei - what kind of blithering dimwit falls for that old trick anyway? - and disbanded, Sasuke walked home, musing his bad luck.

He never noticed the blond kid following him from a safe distance.

The next day, as Kakashi gave Sakura and him bentos, he sat down to eat firmly determined to ignore the idiot's crying, but…

*GROOOOOWWWWWWLLLLL*

Sasuke sighed, and picked up his chopsticks.

* _GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWLLLLL_ *

How the hell could a stomach sound so pitiful?

* _GRROOOOAAAAAAWWWWWWWGGGGGHHHHHHHHRRRRRRLLLLLL_ *

'Godsdamnit...' he thought, blushing furiously, and resigned himself to losing the challenge by offering his food to the blond deadlast.

"You… you'd share with me?" the idiot asked with puppy eyes, blushing back at him.

"Sa-Sasuke-kun, Kakashi sensei said not to…" the girl, Sakura something, babbled, and he interrupted her with a pointed look.

"Kakashi isn't here, and it won't do us any good to leave this dude hungry, he'll just get in the way. If he's eaten something he can help at least by distracting, and we can get the bells with some teamwork," he explained, feeding the idiot.

That evening, when Sasuke got home, he found a small package at the foot of his door, with a note attached to it.

He picked it up, and found an onigiri inside. On the note, in a nearly unreadable scrawl, he read ' _Thank you._ '

As the first weeks progressed Sasuke found himself reluctantly drawn to his teammates.

Sakura, despite being insufferably insistent in trying to get something romantic going on between them - not that it'd ever do her any good, because Sasuke didn't have eyes for anything except his revenge and even when he had said he'd rebuild his clan he wasn't in the least sure on how to actually go about doing it, since all the girls he knew were either seriously annoying or just uninteresting - to the point of being annoying, was at least able to stay quiet while working.

Kakashi was always late, always with his idiotic book perched on his face, and acted like he couldn't be bothered to teach them anything, but at least he didn't interfere when Sasuke started training on his own after doing his share of the work.

The deadlast, however, was a complete and utter useless tool, so he'd often remind him of it.

"Usuratonkachi! What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled as the blond runt's stupid clones started fighting amongst themselves, unearthing all the rice they had painstakingly planted for three hours already.

"Usura- what the hell teme! Who do you think you are calling people names, you shitty shithead piece of shit!"

"Someone who can at least come up with a decent insult, you twerp!"

Of course, their interaction would end up in an all-out brawl, with Sakura yelling at the dimwit until she noticed Sasuke had gotten some bruises, and then she'd go crying after Kakashi to avoid having Sasuke's face go too ugly for her tastes.

Sasuke was always even more pissed at Kakashi and Sakura's interference than at the deadlast for instigating his fury, though. It was decidedly fun to bash the idiot in, smear his face in the mud, kick his butt, and so on. Much better than that weird crazy kiss the feeble-minded midget had given him, anyway. Well, at least _less embarrassing_.

* * *

Naruto was so frustrated! Here he was on the way to becoming Hokage, finally, and the only missions they got were boring ones like catching runaway cats! He deserved better. Especially since that damn Sasuke kept stealing his spotlight all the time, with Sakura making googly eyes at him when she should be making them at Naruto instead.

So, when reporting in after catching the cat - the same one as several other times - he decided to tell it like it was. The Third had started reading missions from a list, but none of those were good enough. Who wants to babysit kids when you're going to become Hokage!

"No, no, no! No thanks! None of that boring stuff, we need something like, totally incredible! Give us a better one!"

Of course, this only caused Iruka to yell at him and Kakashi to knock him over the head, and then the Third went off and started rambling about some stupid rank system crap. Naruto didn't care, he just wanted a better mission. And if he wasn't getting one, he'd rather make plans for ramen.

"You guys just recently became genins, D-rank missions are perfect for you," the Third droned, before realizing no one was paying attention, instead listening to Naruto. "Hey, listen!"

"Geez, all you do is give lectures," Naruto complained, hearing his teammates silently agree with him. "But you know what, I'm not the troublemaking brat you think I still am!"

Little did Naruto expect to be assigned a mission in another country, accompanying a super rude guy called Tazuna who dared to call him a short little runt with a stupid face! It annoyed him so much he even forgot to be annoyed at Sasuke for a while. He really wasn't sure he wanted to protect someone so rude…

Still, it was so exciting to be outside the village for the first time that he could let it slide. It was fun to just walk with everyone and talk about stuff, even if he'd rather have something exciting happen. Though, by exciting he didn't really mean enemy ninjas attacking and Sasuke saving the day. He couldn't believe he'd been frozen in fear while Sasuke just took them out, simple as that, with a fierce look in his eyes that sent shivers down Naruto's spine. And then he called him a scaredy-cat! Naruto was never, ever going to accept that bastard as his teammate! He couldn't lose to him!

Despite Kakashi's doubts and Tazuna admitting he'd lied in the mission description, they continued the mission and Naruto was glad for it. He'd train and work hard until he could be the one to protect Tazuna and his bridge rather than Sasuke. If that meant he had to reach the top of a tree by running, then so be it! He'd reach the top before Sasuke, and then he'd beat the enemy ninjas easily. There was just the tiny problem that he apparently sucked at it.

Sasuke wasn't that much better but surprisingly, Sakura could do it at the first try. Well, Naruto already knew she wasn't just pretty, but smart too! And if he failed on his own, he'd ask her about the technique. Anything to improve, and the fact that Sasuke grumpily came over to him once the tips he'd gotten worked perfectly was just a bonus. And he looked so damn embarrassed when asking too, that Naruto couldn't help but grin wide in spite, and then reply that it was a secret. Ooh, the look on Sasuke's face was so worth it!

In fact, his rivalry with Sasuke only seemed to increase the more they trained together. Naruto didn't mind. It made him feel a bit closer to him, not that he wanted to be friends or anything! But he couldn't deny that training together was kind of fun like this.

However, once he'd heard the terribly tragic story of how Tazuna had lost his son to the bad guys, he decided he wasn't training hard enough. He'd reach the top even if it took him the whole night! And so, on the sixth morning after their training had started, Naruto slept soundly on the ground. He was woken up by a really pretty girl, which was nice compared to being woken up by Kakashi. She seemed rather impressed with him being a ninja, too. She did ask a couple weird questions though about who was important to him, before telling him that a person becomes truly strong when they have someone to protect. It made him remember the times he'd been protected, by Iruka on the day of his graduation, and by Kakashi when they encountered Zabuza, one of the enemy ninjas working for he guy trying to kill Tazuna.

To him, having someone to protect was very important. Having grown up alone, each and every bond he managed to form became incredibly important. He supposed he'd even protect Sasuke, if it came to that. Maybe. If he could look cool while doing it.

If only the pretty girl hadn't told him she was a boy.

If only the pretty girl hadn't turned out to be one of the bad guys.

Naruto found himself caught inside a circle of mirrors, with a desperate - and angry - Sasuke by his side. It had started out well. He'd saved Tazuna's daughter and grandson, then rushed towards the bridge that was the cause for the whole conflict. Sasuke had wanted him to attack from the outside, but Naruto had instinctively rushed to him, not bothering to think farther than that.

Haku was just too fast, switching between the mirrors and attacking them with senbon, always hitting the target but never damaging vital places. It was the first time he had faced an enemy like this and been forced to fight to the death. He honestly hadn't imagined Sasuke by his side in a scenario like this, fighting for your life and your dreams against an enemy that in another time and place could have been a friend.

But it wasn't supposed to be like this. He wasn't supposed to be so weak, forced to rely on Sasuke. But there were senbon covering his body and the pain was getting to him, and somehow, miraculously, Sasuke was fighting back.

Sasuke got in a hit, as Haku moved between mirrors.

Sasuke protected him, when all he could do was lie useless on the ground.

And Sasuke died for it.

"What's… with that face… you moron," Sasuke forced out, blood streaming from his many wounds and the senbon embedded in his throat.

"Why?" was all Naruto could get out, body frozen in shock with Sasuke's back towards him, body seeming to tremble as he fought to stay standing.

"I hated you…" Sasuke whispered, and Naruto felt something painful squeeze his heart.

He'd told himself he hated Sasuke, too, but in this moment, he couldn't pretend he did.

And Sasuke claimed he didn't know why, claimed his body moved on his own, and Naruto felt control leave him as a powerful chakra built up inside him, cradling Sasuke's limp body in his arms with tears streaming down his face and Haku's taunts ringing in his ears.

The mirrors exploded, his wounds healed on their own, and he managed to land a hit in his rage that split the mask that Haku wore in half, revealing the face of that pretty girl he'd met in the forest, instead of the hidden mist hunting nin he'd thought him to be. Or rather, they were one and the same, and all of Naruto's newfound bloodlust disappeared.

Afterwards, his memories were a bit fuzzy, but as fuzzy as they were he knew he would never forget them. He'd never forget the pain of losing Sasuke, and the relief upon seeing him alive after all. He'd never forget the conflicting emotions after figuring out Haku's identity, and understanding and empathizing with him. He'd never forget the faces of Zabuza and Haku as they laid side by side, Zabuza drawing his final breaths with the snow falling to cover their bodies, praying to see Haku in the afterlife.

Standing in front if their graves, he didn't think they deserved their end, and for a moment he hated that this was supposed to be part of a ninja's life. That a bond as strong and worthy of protection as theirs, would be destroyed because of money, because they found no other place to go and no other way of living. It hurt, and while he wished to one day experience a bond like that, he was also frightened that this was a possible end. It made him realize that ouside of Konoha, there were places and people who wanted to destroy love like that.

If anything, he learnt that he never wanted to see Sasuke like that again, with him helpless to do anything about it. He needed to become stronger in order to protect the people close to him. Especially that crazy-ass Uchiha, he thought with a shiver running up his back. That boy with his "My body moved on its own" thing had nearly frightened him to death. He was definitely too reckless for his own good.

* * *

The journey back was mostly quiet, and Sasuke thanked his ancestors for that.

What the hell had he been thinking, throwing himself in front of the deadlast like that? Fine, he had actually helped up with his chakra training, but, but, but… he was supposed to kill Itachi, he couldn't do that if he was dead!

And then the look on the idiot's face when he had seen him stand up, the moron even cried, it was so embarrassing. And now on the way back he was all 'You sure you're ok, bastard?' 'Eat up, skinny,' 'Sakura-chan, are you sure you fixed this shithead right? I can see him leaking blood.'

Fine, Sasuke actually did look like a sieve right now, stupid mosquitoes were hovering around him as if he was a walking buffet - damn him and his sweaty disposition making it preferable to use loose shorts and wide-collared shirts - but he was a ninja godsdamnit! Wasn't it enough that he had fallen like a tree right in front of everyone and that Sakura was trying to hide her lack of courage by nursing him?

He threw the kunai he had been fiddling with on the ground, and stood up. "I'm going to pee," he muttered, and left the camp.

"Stupid Naruto… stupid mission… stupid Haku… stupid Kakashi," he mumbled, scowling, trying to find a bush away from prying female eyes.

"Hey," he heard a deep male voice call, and hurriedly pulled his fly up before turning towards Kakashi. "Hn."

"Look, I know you feel embarrassed about getting hurt like that, but shit happens, kid. That's one of the reasons teamwork is so important. As much as your team mates need you to watch their backs, you need to let them watch your back too."

"Wouldn't have gotten hurt if that usuratonkachi hadn't interfered where he wasn't called," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi snickered. "Yeah, he is sort of unpredictable, isn't he? I thought after all that great work at the riverbank he wouldn't pull such a stupid stunt afterwards, but what do you know, kid must've fallen on his head when he was born, his brain freezes up sometimes."

"No, his brain's natural state is frozen, it only works sometimes, you got the wrong way around," Sasuke said, biting back a smirk.

"Just try to not mind him so much, ok? You guys work well together when you're not busy slapping each other silly," Kakashi said, and they went back to camp.

"I'm taking first watch, get some sleep," Kakashi announced, and Sasuke made his way under the makeshif tent, grunting a little - how the hell could someone so small take so much space - until he was able to lie sideways, Naruto's foot only slightly too close to his face for comfort.

"Night, Roary," he whispered quietly to the toy dinosaur hid deep in his backpack, and slept.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** :

DON'T kill us, please. This fic IS going to be slow to update like all collabs are and especially when the writers are two crazy people who are juggling a bunch of stories of their own up in the air (and btw fangirlandiknowit is participating in a fanfiction contest at smashcon dot dreamwidth dot org, go check her Naruto fanfiction there, it's in the above 1K words section), but it's being written with all our love and care.

Please please review, reviews are writer food, they make us work faster...

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was pissed off.

First, at that idiot Naruto, for bothering him all the time. Seriously, either that… that… usuratonkachi was bothering the hell out of him in missions with that petty rivalry of his, especially when he got all over Sakura (who in turn pissed Sasuke off more by beating the shit out of the stupid little blond; damn it, the kid actually liked her, was nice to her, would it kill that bitch to stop treating him so bad?) or when he started to play around with those three babies that kept trying to look inconspicuous all the time instead of training like he should, not that he wasn't improving, apparently while Sasuke worked his ass off almost 24/7 that insufferable goit was a practical genius.

Second, at himself, for being so bothered by that dumbass. Naruto got under his skin like nobody, even Itachi, ever did. Yes, even Itachi, because Sasuke could keep his cool and plot his revenge against his crazy-ass murdering bastard of a brother, but he lost his marbles with so much as a weird glance from that blond midget. Or when the runt was trying to catch Sakura's attention (I mean, come on, what kind of person kisses someone and then starts hitting on someone else right in front of them? Not that he had liked Naruto's kiss or anything, but… aaaaaaaaaghhhhhh!). Or when he spent his time playing with those three snot-faced brats instead of training… well, instead of training with him, at least Sasuke could admit to himself. It wasn't as if he was that bad to train with, anyway!

So that's why, after dismissal, Sasuke was currently crouched over a roof, watching Naruto get his shit beaten off by Sakura again, until they were interrupted by two bigger kids he had never seen before.

He was too far away to hear anything, but by his teammate's reactions it seemed to be bad news.

"Hn," he grunted, noticing the hawks flying in different directions. 'Chuunin exams, already?' he thought, and scowled. Not for the likes of them, Kakashi would never enroll them so fast. Especially since that idiot hadn't trained them at all almost, after that tree-climbing exercise. It made him feel kind of bad for Sakura, he was almost sure her element was Earth, like their lazy bum of a teacher's, so if he actually did anything instead of just standing there like a damn plank, she would be less useless.

He saw the big boy arguing with them, and grabbing one of the brats, so he decided to move closer. And when he saw Naruto jump in to stop the bully from beating up the kid, well… he knew that blond midget was going to get creamed, and then he'd be stuck in the hospital, and it would be so much more work on those boring D-ranks they were getting, and let's not even mention Sakura would annoy Sasuke to no end, he said to himself as he decided to intervene.

From the three stooges, the redheaded guy, Gaara, was by far the only interesting ninja.

Well, maybe he'd get to fight him, even if in a spar? The kid had been interested in him, too. And Sasuke was itching for a challenging fight that didn't involve Naruto and his damn stupid million stupid ass-pinching stupid eye-gouging stupid taunting stupid shadow clones, aaaagh!

And… damn, what he'd give to go through the exams now, if only to get rid of Kakashi and get a damn decent sensei, instead of probably having to grovel and beg for a chance at fighting someone of his level!

* * *

So guess which stupid sensei enrolled his students in the Chuunin exams? Sasuke wasn't sure if he was excited or wondering how the hell he was going to keep an eye on Naruto and Sakura through out the whole thing to make sure they didn't die, or worse, mess up their team performance. Naruto was definitely excited, though Sakura seemed a bit unsure when they met up the morning after the announcement to head over to the registration. Not to mention all the weird staring Naruto had done at him followed by giggling… who the hell giggles at their teammate like that?! Not even Sakura would do that.

At least this meant he would be able to fight Gaara… probably. If they even made it through the first tests. The prospect of a proper fight had almost made him shiver in excitement. Still, his first impression of the other ninjas joining the exams had been a poor one, since they didn't even notice they were on the wrong floor. Though, there was another Konoha team there that seemed strong once they'd quit their act. One guy with bushy eyebrows and a terrible, terrible eyesore of a spandex suit, and one Hyuuga with a poor attitude. It did seem to give Sakura a confidence boost however, since she practically dragged them to the meeting room. And Naruto was sulking. Nothing new there.

Then spandex guy decided to challenge him, before they got far. In Sasuke's opinion, he'd happily allow Lee to date Sakura instead of him (it was never ever going to happen no matter what deluded plans she had for them) though he could have done without the embarrassing loss. Of course, Naruto had attacked ahead of him and lost too, so he wasn't alone in getting his ass handed to him by thick-brows. Not even his sharingan had been enough, and for the first time… Sasuke wondered if he wasn't as strong as he thought. If even that insane sensei could teach Lee techniques to easily defeat the sharingan in speed, then what the hell was Kakashi even doing?!

But, to be honest, he'd take Kakashi's lazy bum any day over crying rivers in the sunset. Just no. Embarrassing didn't even begin to cover it.

Except the freaky sensei turned out to be better than Kakashi. Well, today had just been one big row of disappointments. And Naruto just had to rub it in, didn't he. Even if he did have a point that Lee had probably trained even more than the both of them combined… Well, he just had to double his training then. Apparently he must have been slacking off, that was the only reasonable explanation. He'd start with working his way through the exams.

There were quite a lot of other ninja joining, six of them from their own graduating class. Some ninjas were there for a second or third time, possibly more. Sasuke would make sure he didn't need to face that embarrassment in a year. And Naruto, well, he just had to shout his name at the top of his lungs to everybody present. It was almost endearing, in a way. Wait, scratch that. He was being an idiot as usual. Yeah, that was it.

Then there was the case with the Hidden village of Sound… Certainly, he was going to meet a lot of interesting people during the course of the exams.

He couldn't say he was happy about the first test being a written one. Sure, he could easily copy the correct answers with his sharingan, and Sakura was smart enough to know the answers anyway. Naruto on the other hand… Well, it was just his style to pass through sheer, dumb luck when the final question was simply 'guts'. If there was anything Naruto had in abundance, it was guts. Incredibly enough he also had the talent of sharing his confidence with everyone else, because as soon as he'd announced his refusal to back down from the final question, everyone else seemed to find their courage if it had been lacking.

And, then, the sheer dumb luck that simply having the guts to stay meant you passed the first test. Naruto hadn't even noticed that the purpose of the test was information gathering. Clearly, Kakashi must have been high on something when he decided to enter them… He just had to make sure Naruto didn't screw up during the next test and they should be fine.

* * *

If the first exam had been too easy, the second one was just ridiculously dangerous. The Forest of Death… It didn't take long for Naruto to disappear and the enemy to show up. Later on, Sasuke could barely remember the whole thing in anything other than panicked, brief flashes burnt into his retinas.

 _Blood, and the first enemy retreats._

 _A fake Naruto remembering the password, but Sasuke knows better than to believe him. Knows that Naruto would never remember it, knows the enemy was hiding to listen in on them… Feels confident at first that he can take this enemy on._

 _A tongue he'll have nightmares about for months to come, and killer intent strong enough for him to throw up, for him to think for a second that it was already over._

 _Sharingan and the pain from the knife he ran into his leg, and panic as he desperately searches for a way out._

 _A snake, and Naruto returning… but Naruto isn't allowed to get hurt. Naruto arriving to save them had never worked out previously… he needed to think!_

 _Naruto punching him. Calling him a scaredy-cat. And he was right. Sasuke had been prepared to give up to save their lives… but Naruto wouldn't have any of that. And maybe, for once Naruto had been the one with a clearer mind, assessing the situation correctly._

 _He didn't like it, not one bit, but Naruto was fighting and Naruto was getting hurt and Sasuke felt so utterly helpless and useless and could only watch his amazing strength, and the look in his eyes… that feral look that was nothing like his usual sky blue. When those eyes bore into his, he could feel his entire body throbbing as his heart slammed against his ribs. This… was Naruto?_

 _He could hear his brother's words resonate within his mind, mixed with Sakura's desperate shouting as Naruto was nailed against a tree. And that insane enemy had said something about the kyuubi, about chakra leaking out…_

 _He had to fight. There was no other choice but to find his strength. He'd been pathetic until then, cowardly wishing to survive so he could face his brother, while Naruto had fought for him, had thrown himself into the battle with no second thought._

 _If he wasn't prepared to sacrifice his life in this situation, then there was no way he could ever hope to defeat his brother._

 _But no matter what he tried, Orochimaru barely even took him seriously. He couldn't move, and then, excruciating pain blooming from his neck to seize his entire body, bringing him to his knees. 'A parting gift' he vaguely heard Orochimaru call it, and he screamed out, shaking and trembling, Sakura holding him as the world spun, and faded into nothingess..._

* * *

Naruto scared off the fish and sat down to eat later trying his best to fake his worry.

Something bad had happened while he had been unconscious, something with both Sakura and Sasuke - 'Oh I just wanted to change my style,' really? Naruto knew he was a klutz and that he didn't have a long attention span, but to be so utterly dismissed like that had actually hurt. Even more because the signs of battle were evident around him and the obvious injuries Sakura was sporting. So he resigned to playing the idiot part, as usual, and try to figure out what was going on by himself.

He later tried to get them out of their slump by opening the Earth scroll to try to weasel their way out - after all, it was basically his fault they were stuck in that predicament in the first place, right? If that Orochimaru creep hadn't knocked him out cold, he would definitely have been able to save everyone, he knew that - but that Kabuto dude had showed up and stopped him.

Good thing, too, because Naruto had to admit he had a lot of help from him. Dude couldn't fight worth a damn, but he could plan stuff. Besides, just the idea of having Iruka-sensei knock them out gave him shivers.

After seeing Sakura blabber about a mark, and how Sasuke should quit, Naruto tried to intervene, since he was himself worried for him. But hearing that Sasuke wanted to fight him… that he respected him as an equal he wanted to fight against… how could he tell the boy to shut up after that? He had the right to keep his pride and damn, if Naruto himself could stand up and fight after being beat up, then Sasuke could too, right?

Right, as was shown on the first battle. Though damn it, it was close. Naruto had wanted to jump in when he noticed that Sasuke's enemy was doing something weird to his chakra, but he couldn't. Ninja pride prevented him to intervene even though he was nearly ripping his hair off, so he did the only thing he could do: annoy that bastard until he got up and did something to shut him up.

At the end of the battle, with everyone cheering Sasuke's prowess in copying Lee's technique and Kakashi taking the Uchiha away to treat him, Naruto swore to one-up him. He'd definitely show that damn boy he could do everything he did and with no fancy Sharingan.

After deciding that, he decided to get some answers out of Sakura, taking advantage of Kakashi and Sasuke's absence.

"Sakura-chan? What were those weird marks on Sasuke's neck?"

The girl looked tensely at him. "Uh, I don't know either," she answered dismissively.

He came a little closer to her against the rail. "Don't bullshit me. He asked you not to tell me, right?" he asked quietly, and turned hard eyes on her.

Sakura trembled in place, remembering how dangerous Naruto had looked back in the fight against Orochimaru.

"Tell me, Sakura-chan. We can't be a team if we hide stuff from each other, right?"

"Um… Sasuke-kun doesn't want you to worry…" Sakura tried to dodge, but Naruto put an arm over her shoulders.

"Sasuke- _kun_ doesn't have to know you told me, tho. And this way it makes it easier for me to help you keep him out of trouble, you know?" he asked quietly, and she began crying.

"It's… it showed up after that guy Orochimaru bit Sasuke-kun… and then Orochimaru said Sasuke-kun would be seeking him out for power, before he left… Sasuke-kun hurt a lot from the bite, and then passed out with a high fever…" she blurted out, and Naruto nodded encouragingly. Stupid teme, if he had told him that it would've been easier for Naruto to fight alone than to depend on his help!

"And then… we were attacked by the Sound ninja... and that's when Lee came and helped… and then Sasuke-kun woke up, but he was like a different person… he was acting so mean, like he was crazy..." she cried softly.

"Hey, it's all gone now, Sakura-chan! I'm sure everything will be all right, believe it!" Naruto said, slapping her back softly and grinning hugely at her.

'Just you wait teme, just wait until I get you by yourself if Kakashi-sensei and the medics don't fix ya, I'm gonna kick your pompous ass to the moon until you learn to trust me, you… you… dumb bastard!' Naruto thought.

* * *

Kakashi pushed Sasuke into a sitting position in the middle of a huge seal he had written on the ground and over his body, coalescing at the seal on his neck.

"Kakashi," Sasuke called out, and Kakashi hummed in response. "Orochimaru said something about a Kyuubi chakra leaking out of Naruto. And his eyes changed. That idiot is my teammate, I'm supposed to trust him with my life. Explain what happened to him," he demanded icily.

"Uuuuuuhhhh… can't we do this later?" Kakashi asked, and chuckled nervously. "Why are you worried about that now, anyway? Sealing this problem is more important," he completed, as he finished the last strokes of paint.

"It helps to forget about the pain," Sasuke explained drily, and stood still, waiting for an answer.

Kakashi cast the jutsu instead, though, and Sasuke could only concentrate on the pain, hardly hearing his sensei's instructions before he passed out.

* * *

It took him almost three weeks to recover and find Kakashi, but the first thing Sasuke did when they met was demand an explanation to what was going on.

Kakashi gave him a weary sigh and sat on a rock.

"I'm gonna be training you alone from now on, so you'll be strong enough to defend yourself should Orochimaru attack you again. As for Naruto, he is in good hands, the Sannin Jiraiya has taken him under his wing," he explained, and Sasuke glared. What the fuck? Now the loser had a _Sannin_ to train him just like that?

"Naruto needs to be trained special because he is the Jinchuuriki of the Nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi," Kakashi continued, and Sasuke felt even more mortified. Damn usuratonkachi all of a sudden was the luckiest ninja in the world! A bijuu's worth of chakra and his own personal Sannin trainer? All that while Sasuke's life was a giant toast falling buttered-side down? Not fair!

"On the other hand, I have to teach you because I also have the Sharingan. And I can manipulate lightning, just as you. So I will be teaching you my best technique, Chidori," Kakashi said, and demonstrated.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Well… maybe he was being sort of hasty on his anger towards the idiot. After all, Naruto _was_ the deadlast, he _would_ have special needs.

* * *

"Kakashi, you _shit_! Where are you, you asshole, we have to _go_!" Sasuke roared in anger. _Of course_ his stupid sensei had to be late on the day of the final competition. _Of course_ he'd make him miss Naruto's fight. _Of course_ he'd get him kicked out by W.O. right when he was supposed to fight Gaara!

"Gaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh I'm going to kill you!" He screamed, kicking the shit out of the rocks around their camp. Now he knew exactly why Sakura and Naruto were always angry at their jounin sensei!

"Maaaaa, maaaaaaaa, why so angry, Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi asked, popping in front of him.

"You son of a bitch! We're late! I'm gonna be disqualified!" he yelled, eyes activating Sharingan out of rage.

"Nahhh, calm down, they'll push your fight over to last place, we have a lot of time," Kakashi said with a dismissive waive. "Let's be going then," Sasuke growled, and they began moving back towards the village.

It took them two entire hours to get to the arena, and they only got in on time because Kakashi finally decided to teleport them inside. Sasuke used all his will to smooth his features and look nonchalant while Naruto tried riling him up. 'At least the loser didn't lose,' Sasuke thought, and looked up at Gaara.

"Don't lose to that guy. Keep your cool and pay attention, and you'll be fine," he heard Naruto mutter quietly into his ear, and nodded, thankful for the support. Naruto slapped him on the back and got up the stairs with Shikamaru, and soon the Sand nin was down there, facing Sasuke with death in his eyes.

The fight was impressive, but soon enough Sasuke was able to wound Gaara with Chidori, but then…

'O shit,' he thought, watching as a deformed limb came out of the sand casket after he was able to free his arm, before Gaara came out of it, nearly unscathed. 'Oh no you don't you freak, _this_ toast is gonna fall on the dry side or my name isn't Uchiha Sasuke!'

And then, right as he was going to attack again, all hell broke loose.

Sasuke was so pissed he couldn't even think straight, and only reacted when Genma told him to pursue Gaara, and that only because he was told he was at the chuunin level.

It was stupid easy tracking and ambushing the Sand siblings, they weren't in the least worried about stealth in their retreat. Shino had appeared then, giving him time to proceed after Temari and Gaara, and a few minutes later the redhead freak had stopped and taken his own sister out of the way so they could finish their match.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto, Sakura and Pakkun were running towards Sasuke at their full speed.

"Are you sure it's this way?" Sakura asked.

" _Are you sure it's this way_?" Pakkun mimed her in a derisive tone. "I'm a DOG, of course I'm sure! Move faster!"

Sakura pouted, and looked at Naruto for support, but he wasn't even listening, only running with a desperately resolute face.

'Sasuke you shithead don't you dare do something stupid before we get there!' he thought, praying to get to his stubborn teammate in time.

* * *

"Oh, shit."

Sasuke could almost hear the metaphorical toast falling on the ground butter-side down. He cursed his horrible luck yet again as he watched Gaara turn into a freaking monster in front of him.

'That eye from before…' Sasuke thought, remembering how Gaara had said that he had the same eyes as his. 'Does that mean he thinks I'm a monster just like him? No… I'm not. I'm an avenger. I was left alive to kill Itachi, to destroy him, to take revenge from my clan!'

He gave everything he got to pull off a third chidori, and then dropped down cursing in pain. 'Godsdamn fucking curse seal, shit, I can't move! I'm dead… I'm dead… oh crap I swear if I survive this I'm going to kill that shitface Orochimaru!' he thought, watching as Gaara jumped towards him.

A crashing sound made him close his eyes, and next thing he knew, Sakura was calling him. He opened his eyes to see Naruto fighting Gaara, and tried desperately to push back the effects of the curse seal, only to see Sakura stand to defend him and be nearly crushed by the Sand monster at the same time Naruto carried him away to safety.

"Sakura-chan! Hold on, we're gonna save you!" Naruto screamed, and looked down at Sasuke. 'Oh fuck, no, no, not Sasuke, anyone but him,' he thought. "Sasuke come on, what do we do?" he asked, but Sasuke couldn't answer.

Sasuke watched powerlessly as Naruto fought Gaara with all he had, screaming at himself to get up and do something useful, until he saw Naruto be thrown in his direction. 'Even if I die… if I can only help him and Sakura save themselves, it's worth it,' he thought, and stumbled up, jumping just in time to shield Naruto's crash against a tree trunk with his own body.

He was honestly surprised not to die from the blow, and used his last energy to do the only thing he could, rile the idiot up and pray it was enough.

"Finally decided to go back to your normal self?" he asked between pants. "Even after all that, you only managed one blow… shape up, will you… I can't save you this time like I did in the Wave country, you dimwit…"

Naruto puffed his cheeks. "Shaddap, will you?"

"Hey, Naruto… save Sakura no matter what… I know you can save her… I'll hold him back," he said, remembering how she had taken a blow for him. "I already lost everything once before. I don't ever want to watch those dear to me die before my eyes again…" he got up, seeing double, and got ready, only to see Naruto stand beside him, blabbering like the idiot he was again, before gathering an enormous amount of chakra.

'I don't believe the amount of chakra he's gathering? Is this… really Naruto?' Sasuke thought, raising his arm to shield himself from the heat blasting from the other boy, and suddenly thousands of Naruto clones were around them.

Sasuke could only sit back, gaping in shock as Naruto displayed immense strength, to a level he had never thought imaginable. Even as Gaara transformed yet again, and Sasuke berated his useless broken body, Naruto found a way to break away from Gaara's sand coffin technique by summoning a giant toad.

'How can he be so strong? What the hell has he been doing while I was training with Kakashi? This can't be the deadlast!' Sasuke thought, while watching the tremendous battle. He was stunned to see Naruto henge the frog into a fox, only to jump at the giant beast and keep fighting… and then the giant beast collapsed in itself, leaving only sand in its wake.

'Did he win? I can't see anything!' Sasuke thought, but shook his head, feeling some of his energy return to his body. 'No time for that, I better take Sakura to safety before going for Naruto… that moron...'

He released Sakura from the sand and left her with Pakkun, before running after Naruto, finding him blabbering about love and friendship to the enemy as if it mattered. "That's enough Naruto… this guy is most probably out of chakra… Sakura is fine now, the sand holding her collapsed," he told his teammate, who smiled at him. He grabbed hold of him so they could go back, ignoring the small clenching he felt at his chest.

* * *

There was a funeral, of course, because the death of a Hokage was not something that went unnoticed. Sasuke couldn't say he'd had a very close relationship with him, but still. The village was a wreck, and people were dead, and Konoha was left without a leader. Certainly not the most successful chuunin exams they'd had.

Even so, Sasuke was more concerned about his own problems. Naruto had shown incredible strength, though it seemed as if he was one of the few to have noticed. Sakura barely believed him when he told her. Though to be fair, Sasuke could barely believe it himself. Such a tremendous power he'd been hiding… How was he supposed to compete with that? How was he supposed to be able to take down his brother if he didn't improve at all, and then suddenly Naruto comes from nowhere and showing strength he could only dream of. So how, how could he get a body like Naruto's, power like Naruto's…

Shaking off the dark thoughts for the time being, Sasuke decided to visit Kakashi and talk about his future training. There had to be something he could do to improve quickly. However, inside Kakashi's apartment was a small crowd consisting of Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai, while Kakashi himself laid on his futon looking not too great.

"Why is Kakashi sleeping? Why are the jounin all gathered here in his room?" he asked, not liking how Gai seemed to have shushed the others upon his entrance.

Before he could make some sense of what Gai was trying to come up with as an excuse, a unfamiliar ninja entered with a distraught look in his face.

"Is it true that Itachi has returned to the village? And that he's chasing Naruto?!"

Sasuke froze, while the new ninja seemed to realize his mistake in yelling out exactly what Sasuke was not meant to hear. Maybe they thought he would want to confront Itachi, but the only thing running through his mind as he darted outside was how much danger Naruto was in now. Even if he couldn't think of a reason why Itachi would go after Naruto of all people, but if it were true then the reason hardly mattered.

He tried Ichiraku's first, and luckily Teuchi knew that Naruto had left for the hotel town, apparently with a great sannin named Jiraiya. If he was that great or not Sasuke didn't know, but he sure as hell couldn't trust him to be stronger than Itachi. He had to go warn them, and ran at full speed the short distance to the town.

It was a rather big town, and true to its name filled with hotels. Knowing that he couldn't possibly search all of them, he still entered the first one, asking about the idiot and the white-haired Jiraiya. When the clerk told him he recognized the description, relief flooded his senses though his heart still beat a staccato against his ribs. He could still be too late, or just in time which was also too late.

Rushing up the stairs he scanned the room numbers, his entire body high strung. Knocking on the door it wasn't long before it opened, but Naruto's name died halfway out his mouth as the boy opening was one he'd never seen before.

Fuck. _Fuck_. He could sense that Itachi was close, and this triggered old memories buried deep within him. How he'd looked up to his brother, wanted to train with him, how Itachi would poke his forehead and tell him 'Next time' and then how he'd come home late that fateful night, only to find his entire clan slaughtered by Itachi's hand…

Sharingan activated, he ran where his senses told him to go, and it wasn't long before he spotted two cloaked figures standing outside a hotel room, door open and Naruto standing shocked behind them.

"It has been a while… Sasuke."

His brother's voice sounded much the same, deeper perhaps than last time.

"Uchiha Itachi…" he growled out through clenched teeth, his body tense and ready to fight, ignoring Naruto's surprise at hearing the name.

The other guy drawled something about this being the second time he'd seen a Sharingan, but Sasuke didn't listen. It felt as if his very soul was trembling with a mixture of hatred, bloodlust and fear, the anxiousness threatening to overwhelm him but quickly morphing into something much more sinister and violent that pulsated into his body with every heartbeat.

"I will… kill you!" he growled, but Itachi made no move that he'd heard him.

Instead, he let his companion reveal to Naruto that Itachi was responsible for the Uchiha clan's massacre, which was not how he'd intended to let Naruto know, if ever. Memories flashed before his eyes, memories of his parents' dead bodies, of Itachi showing him just how they'd died, of Itachi telling him the answer to the question he still asked himself several times a day:

 _Why?_

His brother had said to hate him, to live a pathetic life until he could return the favor, until he was strong enough. Was he strong enough now?

"I've wanted to tell you this… I've lived my life hating you, I've lived it in order to kill you…"

Feeling the surge of power through his body and arm, a chidori came to sparkling life inside his hand as he pulled at his shirt, eyes wide and spinning with the Sharingan.

" _I have lived for this_!"

If only he could have been strong enough, but Itachi easily parried his chidori, breaking his arm like it was a brittle stick. There was no remorse in Itachi's eyes then, no glimpse of emotion, no sign of regret or _anything_ that could make him human in Sasuke's eyes.

Naruto was gathering chakra in an attempt to help him, but they were all interrupted by a large frog shielding Naruto from the blue-skinned man's sword, a large white-haired man behind it introducing himself as Jiraiya. As far as first impressions went, Sasuke probably would have found the man a shocking contradiction of power and strange behavior. Naruto certainly didn't seem impressed, forgetting momentarily about Itachi and instead berating the sannin for his perverted actions.

He couldn't see too well, lying on the floor and writhing in pain as he was, but when it was confirmed that they really were after Naruto… he didn't know what to think. That the organization Akatsuki wanted to abduct Naruto, it was simply _preposterous._

Itachi was _his_ brother, _his_ to kill, and why the _hell_ was he after Naruto anyway?!

"…you won't get Naruto," Jiraiya said, voice so calm that Sasuke could feel every fiber of his being scream at him to get up and _do_ something.

"And why not?" Itachi asked, sounding almost intrigued but certainly not threatened.

"Because right now, right here, you both will die by my hand," Jiraiya continued.

Sasuke wasn't having any of it. "Don't do it," he forced out, standing on shaky legs, voice trembling despite his efforts. "This guy is _mine_."

Silence, then Itachi spoke, his cold words piercing through Sasuke's heart more painfully than Haku's senbon. "…I have absolutely no interest in you right now."

The words were also more painful than the kick that sent him flying into the wall, Naruto's shout ringing in his ears. The only thing he could think was that Naruto _couldn't_ join the fight no matter what. "Naruto, I told you… don't! This fight is _mine_."

Naruto halted in the middle of charging, for once doing as Sasuke said. As Itachi started walking closer to him he could feel the curse seal flaring up, the thrum of chakra that he had yet to release, and he shouted at him but only managed to bear the pain of the punch to his stomach.

There was nothing he could do, and never in his life had he felt so powerless. Such a huge gap between them, as if Sasuke hadn't changed at all since he was a mere child and Itachi a member of Anbu. The utter proof of just how weak he still was hurt so much, even as he coughed up blood from yet another heavy punch.

As Itachi lifted him up by his throat, holding him like a ragdoll against the wall, only one question rang through his head again and again. ' _What the hell have I been doing all this time?'_

Then Itachi opened his eyes, and Sasuke found himself submerged in a sharp darkness, the silhouette of his brother clearly outlined against it, his voice like sticky liquid in his ears. " _You're weak…"_

Itachi was posed above their kneeling parents, sword ready to strike.

" _From now on, for twenty-four hours, you will relive that day…"_

He screamed.


End file.
